Latest Cicada News
Big Bad Wasps in Westford, Ma.
3:00 PM - Pine Grove Cemetery - Westford, Ma. I'm back again to see if I can snap a few pictures of these Cicada Killer Wasps. It's later in the day and hopefully they won't be as active. Sure enough I sucessfully photographed a male perching on a bush. I find these wasps quite facinating. While they are very large 1 - 2 inches long, they really seem oblivous to my presence. They are buzzing all around me and I'm right in the thick of them.
I'm really not the least bit fearful of them. They don
Date Posted: 2005-07-21 Comments: (2) Category: Cicada General Info
Cicada Killers of New England
This year I discovered the very fascinating Cicada Killer Wasps (Sphecius speciosus) here in Massachusetts. If you have been reading the blogs for this year, you know about all the information that I have collected on these amazing insects.
While seeking further knowledge on Cicada Killer wasps I found Professor Chuck Holliday from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania who has been studying these insects for several years now. I firmly believe in helping others out in their various fields of study
Date Posted: 2005-07-21 Comments: (78) Category: Cicada Projects
Death at Chez Gerry's!
I just don't understand it, I checked the Cicadas today, I had five total live specimens, including the Tibicen lyricen var. engelhardti female that I collected back on July 4th. I inspected the terrarium today and found that all the specimens are dead!! Even the new Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen male that I collected on the 16th at Fairview cemetery in Westford and the new Tibicen lyricen that I got on the 15th in the evening at Pine Crest Cemetery. All of them dead, dead, dead, dead,
Date Posted: 2005-07-18 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
First T. canicularis Cicada Found.
Fairview Cemetery - Westford. It's very hot and humid today. I decided to try my luck in this new location. Found many exuvia on a lot of trees and head stones. Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen are happily calling in the trees.
Right off the bat, I found a T. lyricen nymph just starting to eclose on a retaining wall. On this wall were several other exuvia. Since I'm trying to document the different morphologies this year in Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen cicadas, I decided that
Date Posted: 2005-07-16 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
Got a complaint? Let's Talk
Pine Crest Cemetery - Chelmsford - With the success of finding a Tibicen lyricen nymph last night, I'm back again to see if I can find some more live specimens. Unfortunately, I didn't find any but I am noticing a lot of exuvia on the headstones within the cemetery. It makes me wonder if upon emerging from the ground if Cicadas can see all that well. I mean after all, if you spend in some cases 3 - 9 years underground during your long development in total darkness, it makes one wonder if you'd b
Date Posted: 2005-07-15 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
Tibicen lyricen Calling Finally!
Middlesex Road Cemetery, North Chelmsford - I have to admit, up until this point I was really starting to get worried about the state of Tibicen lyricens here in Massachusetts but today at last I finally heard them calling, while there still isn't many it sure is a welcomed sign.
I went to this little cemetery thats right around the corner from my house on Middlesex road, it is so small and so old that I don't even see a sign for what the name of it is so I'm calling it "Middlesex Road Cem
Date Posted: 2005-07-14 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
Deformed Cicadas Found Today
I found several exuvia again today at St. Patrick cemetery but no live specimens. There seems to be a mixture of both T. canicularis and T. lyricen though. I will have to check another area.
First Deformed Cicada found at Pine Crest Cemetery - Chelmsford
Seems to be a lot of exuvia here at Pine Crest cemetery. I found a total of 6 exuvia today. One was on a pine tree and several on different hardwood trees. Some of the exuvia were on the backs of Maple leaves.
I also found a deformed T. lyric
Date Posted: 2005-07-13 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
No Live Specimens Today
I hit my usual spots at St. Patrick Cemetery today. It's sunny and in the 80's and it's supposed to reach 90 and humid. Heard one or two T. canicularis calls today but still no T. lyricens at all. I checked my normal spots for T. lyricen but didn't find a single specimen.
I did however find several new exuvia about the cemetery. These were obviously T. lyricen save for one which definitely looked like T. canicularis. The beech tree had as many as 6 exuvia on it. This tree I found the T. lyricen
Date Posted: 2005-07-11 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
Many Cicadas Found Today
This is really surprising. It's really a cloudy, cool and overcast day. It's 60 degrees outside. Despite that I found several different specimens in all parts of the cemetery here. All seem to be on Ash trees as well which I think is T. lyricen's preferred host plant. At least here in Massachusetts. It also looks like I can take back what I said about the Ash trees last year. That they may not be producing Cicadas this year. All the Ash trees that produced Cicadas last year are indeed producing
Date Posted: 2005-07-07 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info